Chapter Eleven
Terri seemed surprised to see Mulder and Scully at the State Home.
"What's wrong?" She asked, eyebrows narrowing. Scully shook her head with a reassuring smile.
"Nothing, Kayla's fine." She said. "We just wondered if we could talk to Kayla's doctor. You mentioned you had a doctor that comes in twice a week that sees Kayla." Terri laughed a little.
"Geez, good timing. Dr. Mitchell's in today." With that, Terri led them down to the small office Dr. Mitchell used when she came down from the hospital.
"Dr. Mitchell, sorry to interrupt," Terri said, knocking quietly on the door. Dr. Mitchell looked up from a file she was scanning while sitting at her desk. She offered a smile.
"That's okay, I don't have an appointment for an hour - I was just doing some paperwork." Dr. Mitchell looked past Terri curiously at the FBI agents.
"These are the agents from the FBI who are taking care of Kayla Reynolds while they run their investigation. I think I told you about all that. Good. Anyway, they wanted to talk to you." Terri explained. Dr. Mitchell looked concerned.
"Me?" She nodded. "Sure, I'll help however I can."
Terri left them alone, while Scully and Mulder took a seat. Dr. Mitchell smiled.
"I want to thank you for looking out for Kayla right now. She must be so scared with everything that's going on." She said kindly. Scully nodded.
"We're doing what we can." She wanted to get straight to the point. "Dr. Mitchell, we wanted to talk to you about Kayla's...condition, I guess you could call it. Terri says you've been her doctor for a while now. Kayla had an episode last night, and I've been through medical school, and I have never seen anything like what I saw last night."
Dr. Mitchell sighed, pulling her glasses off gently.
"Well, agent Scully, you aren't the only one. Kayla's been to all sorts of specialists and doctors her whole life. Nobody seems to know how to diagnose her. I sure didn't." She paused. "The closest diagnosis anyone could come up with was epilepsy. One doctor even went as far as to suggest she had some mild form of catatonia, because she never moved in her state. Anyway, they obviously never found anything consistent with the DSM, or any medical diagnoses. That's what makes Kayla so difficult to treat. She's a case study, very unique. I feel for the girl. I can't imagine how that must make her feel." Scully nodded her agreement. Poor Kayla had seemed so embarrassed that it had happened in front of her.
"Terri gave me some medication to give her, but I couldn't do it. I didn't feel like it was going to be helpful in any way. Does it affect Kayla at all, the medicine?" She asked. Dr. Mitchell rolled her eyes as she shook her head.
"No, it doesn't do anything. Kayla's been on so many medications, it makes my head spin to read her drug history. Nothing works. But that's the problem - everybody believes it's medical, what's wrong with Kayla. I don't know if I necessarily believe it is medical, but Terri keeps insisting I try a new drug, and to be honest, I don't know what else to try."
"You said you didn't believe it was medical. What's your explanation?" Mulder asked. Dr. Mitchell thought for a moment.
"Best I can come up with is maybe Kayla's somehow crying out for attention. But there's the problem. Even that doesn't seem like Kayla. She's such a reserved kid. I mean, that's gotta be why she's cutting herself." She explained.
Scully's stomach sank as she looked up worriedly.
"What?" She asked.
"Look, I'm not 100% sure that's what it is. I planned to have a serious discussion with Kayla about it the next time I was down, but then all this stuff happened with you and the FBI, I didn't get a chance. But I saw scratches on Kayla's wrists. Just shallow ones, but enough to be concerned. When I asked about it, she quickly told me it was the cat. Well, if you knew the cat here, you'd know he's not a scratcher." Dr. Mitchell replied.
As Mulder and Scully were leaving the state home, Scully was feeling rather discouraged. She had hoped Dr. Mitchell could tell her something about Kayla's condition that would be helpful, but instead, it was just the same thing everyone else was telling her. Nobody knew what was wrong with her.
"It's not fair to her, Mulder. She'll have to keep going through all these episodes the rest of her life unless someone figures out what's wrong with her. There's got to be a specialist somewhere who hasn't seen her." Scully explained, as they got in the car. Mulder was quiet fora moment before he spoke up.
"If you want my opinion, I agree with Dr. Mitchell." He said.
"What do you mean?"
"Maybe it's not medical. And here's my theory - I think the two are connected."
"The two what?"
"Here you have a medical mystery nobody can explain, and there are people who want her. What if the reason they want her is because of this strange disease?" Mulder asked, his eyes going as big as saucers. Scully shook her head, feeling her heart beating hard inside of her.
"That doesn't make any sense."
"Doesn't it? Maybe that's the piece of the puzzle we're missing. The only thing that's been consistent throughout this whole investigation is this unknown medical problem." He smiled. "I think it's time we paid a visit to Kayla's surrogate mother."
Scully still had the address of the woman who carried Kayla to term from the social services office, and soon enough, Mulder and Scully were standing on a rickety old porch out in the country, knocking on a screen door that seemed to be off its hinges. Scully couldn't help but wonder if this was why this woman gave her up; maybe she couldn't afford it. Burns, from the Social Services Department had said there was no money in the family at all. It was possible. Scully felt sorry for the woman.
A woman answered the door, but barely. She opened the door a crack and peeked out nervously, her hands shaking. As soon as she saw the FBI agents, her eyes widened, but Scully took a step forward.
"It's alright, we just want to talk to you." She said calmly.
The woman hesitated greatly, before she opened the door a slight crack. Scully's stomach sank.
The woman's face was covered in fresh bruises, and Scully immediately suspected spousal abuse. Once again, she pondered this being the reason for giving Kayla up.
"Can we come in?" Mulder asked calmly. The woman was clearly exhibiting signs of panic, but she shakily opened the door and let them in, never meeting their gaze.
Scully took a quick glance at the woman's name. Janette Reynolds.
"Ms. Reynolds, I'm sorry for alarming you. We're not here to hurt you in any way. We're just here to talk to you about...about Kayla Reynolds." Scully swallowed. "Your daughter."
Janette's reaction wasn't surprising - she began to sob, but it was difficult to see any tears with the bruises on her face.
As they sat down on ratty sofas, Scully unconsciously looked around for signs of a husband, but there were no photographs, and the table only had one chair. Maybe she was alone, but if that were the case - who in the world put those bruises there?
"Ms. Reynolds, we're running an investigation and we need to find out everything we can about Kayla. Now, I understand this may be difficult for you, but if you can start from the beginning, it might help us out." Mulder explained in his calmest voice. Janette was already freaking out - they didn't want to make her more uncomfortable than she already was.
Janette fidgeted with her skirt nervously as she cleared her throat, still sobbing quietly.
"I never wanted to give her up, you know. Circumstances were beyond my control." She waited for some kind of response, but when Scully and Mulder were silent, she went on. "They weren't my own eggs - I couldn't get pregnant, my husband and I. We weren't getting along very well - I...I thought a baby would make things better. So...I was approved to have some eggs implanted in me." She explained, pausing every once in a while to dab at her eyes with a Kleenix Mulder had offered.
Scully felt her heart skipping beats. She was talking about Melissa's eggs. This was the woman who had a part of Melissa implanted into her.
"Did you know anything about the eggs you were receiving? Who they were from? Did you meet the donor?" Scully asked, a little too desperately. Janette shook her head.
"No, I didn't get to meet her, but I was allowed to see her file. They told me I was allowed to see the file of the donor, so I could know all the medical background and stuff, in case my child ever got sick. They weren't my genes, so I guess it made sense." She sniffled. "Anyway, her name was Melissa Scully. That was all I really knew about her. I was so excited about having a baby, but..." She stopped then and began to cry again. Scully and Mulder could only wait patiently as she gathered enough courage to keep going.
"Then he left me. He left me with no money and...and no choice. I couldn't keep her. I knew it was a girl. I didn't have the money to take care of her, so...so I gave her away, hoping somebody could give her a better life." Her eyes were red and puffy from all the crying. Scully really got the impression this woman loved her unborn child and wanted to raise her, but circumstances prevented her from doing so.
Scully continued.
"Ms. Reynolds, do you have any reason to believe Kayla could be danger?" She asked.
Scully definitely didn't get the explanation she was expecting.
In fact, Janette just closed off entirely. She kept her mouth shut, and her hand began shaking again. She was getting nervous, as she began to breathe faster. She opened her mouth, and closed it again, trying to find words. She stuttered on her words, but Scully was able to make them out.
"They know."
And then it hit her.
Scully understood, and her eyes went wide.
"You." She said quietly. "You're the one who sent the file." She felt Mulder's eyes on her. But Janette didn't deny it. In fact, she breathed out shakily.
"Yes." She admitted, controlling her breathing. "Like I said, the only thing I knew about the person who donated the eggs was her name. So...I looked her up and...well, I found out she was dead. Then I found out about you, agent Scully. I found out you were the only family Kayla had, and you're FBI! Besides, I've heard you and your partner specialize in this kind of...weird stuff. You have to help her." Scully shook her head, leaning forward.
"Weird stuff?" She asked, feeling her stomach sink. She could sense Mulder leaning forward, waiting for the proof that his theory was correct.
Janette took a breath and rubbed her forehead.
"You probably won't believe me..." She started. Mulder laughed a little.
"Try me." He replied.
She paused before she continued.
"The laboratory, the one I got the eggs from, well, it was called Marzulli's." She said in a quiet whisper. Scully immediately recognized the name, but not as the one she had read in Janette's file. No, it was the word Scully had heard come out of Kayla's mouth when she went into that state. But...how could she have known about the lab?
"I'd never heard of the lab before. I never even thought of getting implants, but I saw an ad in the newspaper. I figured, why not give it a try, at least? What did I have to lose? I wasn't getting pregnant with Mike.
"I made an appointment, and they did all kinds of tests on me, and told me I was a match for a set of eggs that had just been donated. Your sisters." She looked at Scully. "They stuck the eggs inside of me, and I was pregnant." She smiled very briefly then. Then, she had a sick look on her face.
"Eight months into my pregnancy, I heard Marzulli's went under. None of the newspapers gave a reason why, it just no longer existed. Well, I didn't think anything of it. I was already pregnant, I didn't need them anymore. But..." She began to tremble again, and at Mulder's coaxing, took a struggled breath, and went on, "But then, one night, I couldn't sleep. Kayla, she...she liked to move a lot inside of me, and I couldn't sleep. So I came downstairs for some milk, and...and that was when...when they broke in."
"Broke in? Who?" Scully was growing anxious, wanting to know the whole truth. What did this all mean?
"Them. They were from Marzulli's. There were three of them. They were wearing black masks and lab coats. I knew it was them, because...even though they were...quick, I saw the logo on their lab coats. I recognized it right away. They..." She began to cry as she struggled to remember. "They pinned me down, and pulled out a...a long needle. I don't know what it was, I tried screaming, but...but they gagged me. The stuff in the needle, it...it was green, and...and they stuck it in my belly!" She began sobbing uncontrollably. Scully stared at her, wide-eyed, as she shared a glance with Mulder. This was something. They waited until Janette started speaking again.
"They did something to my baby! I know it! She was born completely healthy - the doctors tested her and everything! Nothing was wrong with her, but I didn't believe it. Something had to be wrong. I don't know what they put in me, but it had to affect my baby, somehow!
"Then...then a couple of weeks ago, those...those men came back." She swallowed, unconsciously touching the bruises on her face. "They...they beat me, demanding I tell them...tell them where Kayla was. They beat me so badly, I...I had no choice - I told them the name of the agency that I dealt with. They...they left, and I knew...I knew they wanted her." She began to cry again. "That...that was when I sent you the file."
"Did you tell the police?" Mulder asked. Janette nodded.
"Yes, but...that's just the problem..." She paused, looking from Mulder to Scully. "There's no record of Marzulli's Laboratory anywhere. There isn't any proof, no evidence. It's...it's almost as though it never existed."
